We have a new baby in the family and I wanted to make him something fun. I was originally planning on making another cloth block but then found this turtle tutorial on Make It and Love It. Isn’t it cute?!? I especially love Ashley’s pictures of the turtles in the grass!
The tutorial was super easy to follow and overall the turtle wasn’t too bad to make. I think the hardest part was stuffing the thing!
The parts are fairly small so they are a little difficult to work with but really it wasn’t bad.
I wasn’t sure exactly how full to fill the parts….
But once trying to sew them on realized I probably stuffed them a little too much.
You probably want a little more space from the end than I allowed for. I ended up using my zipper foot to sew the pieces to the main part and it was still difficult. It actually probably would have been smart for me to just hand stitch them on.
I thought sewing the circle would be difficult but again I just took my time and it wasn’t so bad.
I was able to practice a ladder stitch again and it was easier this time since I knew what I was doing! Here is a video and a PDF to help if you haven’t done a ladder stitch before.
I am very happy with how the turtle turned out! I think it’s adorable and might have to make one for Lillian even though she has more stuffed animals than she needs, especially since she doesn’t play with them.
7 Responses
I lOvE turtles, specifically, Honu, which are Hawaiian sea turtles. I glanced at the pattern on MIALI last month, but I’ve done enough ‘craft fails’ on stuffed anything, so I chose to not to try it just yet. Yours, however, looks great!!! And I do agree – stuffing it is probably the hardest part!
You are a natural sew-er in my opinion. All of your projects are adorable and MUCH higher quality than the junk you buy for cheap at the stores today. I too am a perfectionist and understand your disappointment with the small imperfections…but I’ve come to the conclusion that if it’s perfect, I didn’t do it right. Each project needs at least one mistake so I can assure myself I’ve learned something. 🙂 I’m in the process of buying a new machine and saw that you have a Bernina 330…your stitches look very even, which is a plus. Have you had any problems with the machine yet? Anything that really gets on your nerves about this machine?
Thanks so much!
I agree about the imperfections, and really, can anything really ever be perfect?
In regards to my machine. I LOVE it! I have had zero problems with it. The only thing I can even think of is that I have had an issue with the bobbin case coming out, but I think that is because I wasn’t fully getting it clicked into place. The issue is that it doesn’t really click (at least you can’t hear the click), it just kind of pushes into place. (that has really only happened maybe 4 times, so it’s not even really a problem)
The manual is decent but can be confusing. So far though, I have been able to figure out exactly what I am trying to do, such as saving words into the memory.
Honestly, I can’t think of anything else that I have complained about. I even asked my husband if I have complained about anything and he said no. Once getting my walking foot I have literally had no problems with sewing anything, it pulls multiple layers through and even will without a walking foot but of course won’t be as even as with the walking foot. BUT that is the foot not the machine.
If you have any specific questions I would be more than willing to answer any of your questions!
Thanks for a fast response! I’m glad you’re loving the machine, I think I’ll go try it out in the store before I buy it, just to be sure. But I think this is the one for me! 🙂
This is the one 🙂 Thanks for your input!
April, Philip LOVES this turtle, btw! Easy to hold on to and the arms, legs, and head are great for chewing. 🙂